Reporters Without Orders Ep 380: Flood-hit Dharali, UP’s ‘half encounters’ and dog lovers’ protest

This week, host Anmol Pritam is joined by Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar and Ashish Anand.

Avdhesh discusses his report on a protest against the Supreme Court’s August 11 order to remove all stray dogs from the Delhi-NCR region. Disheartened dog lovers protested at Connaught Place, where protesters were confronted by the Delhi Police, who detained them. Avdesh says that this is the first time that religious slogans have been heard in such a protest.

Talking about his other report on UP police’s new model of “justice”, called Half Encounter or Operation Langda, Avdesh mentions how the police shoot suspects in one of their legs to capture them alive. Once hit, the accused collapses, and the police arrest them. He says people are framed in a false case, and the police script a fake encounter to appear real.

Ashish shares his experience reporting from ground zero in Uttarakhand’s Dharali village, which was cut off after multiple floods hit the region. There was no road and phone connectivity, the power supply was cut off, and the supply of essential goods had come to a halt. He describes the trials of the residents, whose homes were destroyed, and relatives went missing.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:04:28 - Protest for Dogs

00:06:51 - Uttarakhand disaster

00:23:54 - Half Encounter

00:36:50 - Recommendations

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Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Naresh Kumar.